All the Hidden IOS 16 Features You Need to Know About

Apple announced many new iOS 16 features for iPhone during WWDC. If you’ve been following this, you probably know all about the lock screen customization, the updated notification system, and the ability to edit and undo messages, among other notable new options. However, there are plenty of hidden features that Apple didn’t mention.

I’m going to start with the real hidden features that Apple is completely ignoring. The company always omits features from their keynote (there wouldn’t be enough time to cover them all), but they list most of the new options and changes on the preview site, as you can see here . While there are some great new features here to explore, I want to focus on the ones that didn’t make it onto this list first.

All of these hidden features were discovered by beta testers who launched the first developer beta of iOS 16 . If you’re an Apple developer or want to become one for a fee, you can also try out the software today. Otherwise, you can live with these testers until Apple releases a free public beta next month.

Tapback now works with SMS

While I never expected Apple to adopt RCS – although they absolutely should – iOS 16 does improve group chats with Android phones. As you probably know, when you “like” or “like” a message in one of these group chats, everyone gets the full message instead of the handy icon you usually see in an iMessage thread. Instead of a “thumbs up” on the message “Do you want to watch a movie tonight?” everyone gets: “Jake liked ‘Do you want to see a movie tonight?’

That hell is no more, at least not with iOS 16 . As long as your iPhone is up to date, you’ll see Tapbacks appear in messages rather than the written texts that everyone hates. Google has already implemented this change on Android , so now neither side of the chat should deal with this issue (unless your iPhone supports iOS 16).

Your iPhone now supports Nintendo Switch controllers

It’s finally happening: In iOS 16, Apple is adding Switch controller support for the iPhone . And yes, this includes both the Pro Controller and the Joy-Cons. Now, if only we could get an iPhone case with Joy-Con attachments (let me dream).

Audio source icons appear in “Now Playing” instead of broadcasting

You may know that you can change the sound source of your iPhone with the Now Playing widget. With the new update, this icon will show the current audio source instead of a generic broadcast button, making it clear where your audio is being output. For example, if you are using AirPods Pro, you will see them in this window; if you switch to your HomePod, you’ll see it here instead.

It’s a small change, but great for quickly figuring out where your music is going before you hit the play button. Plus, you’ll know if your AirPods actually turned off when you took them out of your ears.

View conversion options by clicking on a metric

When editing a document or note, you can click on a metric to instantly convert it to something else . For example, if you click on 50g, you will see the conversion to kilograms, pounds, and ounces. If you click on $100, you will see options to convert to another currency.

You can automatically change Apple Watch faces with Focus

One of the lock screen features mentioned during the talk was the ability to change lock screen settings based on your focus. You can have a personal lock screen with specific wallpapers and widget customization, while your work focus shows a more professional background with work-related widgets.

Although the company hasn’t announced it, the same principle applies to the Apple Watch – in the Watch app, you’ll be able to choose which watch faces appear during which magic tricks .

Blur wallpaper on your home screen, not just your lock screen

You may have seen the iOS 16 option to blur your wallpaper on your lock screen to create a fun depth effect. This option is also available on the home screen , allowing you to visually separate your apps from the background.

iOS 16 can detect duplicate contacts

If your contact list is similar to mine, it’s a mess . Chances are you have more than a couple of duplicates, either because you added the contact twice by mistake or you moved the phones. IOS 16 will discreetly alert you to these duplicates and give you the option to remove them if necessary.

Easily delete contacts

If you’ve ever struggled with your confusing contact list, you know it can be agonizing . To delete a contact in iOS 15, you need to open it, tap Edit, then scroll all the way down to find Delete Contact. Doing this for every contact you want to delete is a tedious nightmare. Luckily, iOS 16 has a new submenu option to delete contacts . Just press and hold on a contact entry and you’ll find it.

Sorting playlists in Apple Music

Playlists are great, but Apple Music fixes them in the order you created them. If you want to change something, you will have to open the editor and do it manually. Now in iOS 16, you can easily sort playlists by title, artist, album, or release date.

Spotlight offers information about what is currently playing

Speaking of music, you’ll see that Spotlight offers additional context for the music currently playing on your iPhone. Swipe down on the home screen when you’re listening to something and you’ll see the option to learn more about the artist .

Enter the number of copies you wish to print

When printing on iPhone, you can now type in the desired number of copies manually. Previously, dials had to be used to select a number.

You can fill out autofill codes using a third-party authentication app.

In iOS 15, you can use the built-in authenticator app to autofill 2FA codes for your accounts. While you could upload third-party options, you couldn’t use them for autofill. Now you can .

You can disable “Lock to end a call”.

In a sense, this is a simple operation: when you finish talking on the phone, press the side button to hang up. Light! Maybe too simple: If you’ve ever accidentally hung up because you pressed the side button, you can now disable the option in your iOS 16 phone settings .

Share an eSim number with another iPhone

If you want to transfer your eSim number to another iPhone, you’ll need to do it from recovery, which isn’t particularly convenient. However, iOS 16 seems to introduce an easy way to transfer a number to another nearby iPhone . It’s early stages so we don’t know exactly how it works yet, but it’s a cool addition.

Instead of “No signal” you will see SOS

It’s a minor change, but apparently you’ll now see “SOS” appear at the top of the screen when you don’t have bars. The reason for the change isn’t clear, but one Redditor suggests it might mean emergency services are still working on your iPhone even though you can’t make normal calls.

You can change fitness goals on your iPhone

Another small feature: You can now change your Apple Watch fitness goals in the Activity app on iPhone . Previously, this option was only available on the watch itself.

Hidden Features Apple Recognized

I want to quickly run through a few fun features that Apple acknowledged in their full-featured preview, but that may have gone unnoticed by most people watching WWDC news:

• Now there is a tactile keyboard.
• You can enable Live Transcriptions during FaceTime calls.
• You can recover recently deleted messages for up to 30 days.
• You can lock your hidden and recent albums in Photos.
• Now you can manage your Wi-Fi passwords.
• You can end a phone call with “Hey Siri”.
• You can shrink notifications to switch between expanded list view, stacked view, or count view.
• iOS is asking for permission to paste from another app.

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